Obama’s State of the Union speech: Confrontation wrapped in Kumbaya

Even in his tone — a forceful and energetic delivery — made clear that Obama had a simple message for Republicans: Game on.

The State of the Union speech then was in keeping with the rhetoric coming out of this president and this White House dating back to the payroll tax cut extension fight late last year.

It seems as thought the debt-ceiling fight, which Obama described as a “fiasco”in his address tonight, convinced him once and for all that the only way to effectively deal with Republicans was show them that he was willing to talk tougher and push harder than they were.